THE NAUTILUS. 71 



M. multiformis measured : length 0.45, width 0.24, diam. 0.32 inch. 

 This would be very small for M. Stearnsi. As to color, our species 

 seems to be invariably brownish-purple above, with the ventral face 

 straw colored, white beneath the cuticle. None of the specimens I 

 have seen could be called green. Carpenter describes M, multifor- 

 mis as " purpureo, ad marginum ventralem viridi," with a variation 

 " omnino riridi." 



Regarding the question raised by Mrs. Williamson, it may be said 

 that all the main genera of Myt'didos have both corrugated and 

 smooth species, and experience has shown that the character:- upon 

 which the genera are founded, such as the presence of a septum, 

 the position of the beaks and sculpture of the hinge line, are largely 

 independent of the surface sculpture, the latter being a compara- 

 tively trivial character. At the same time, it is remarkable that 

 two species of different genera, and so similar in external characters, 

 should be found living together. It is probably a case of conver- 

 gence of specific characters through the influence of identical exter- 

 nal conditions. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The death of Mons. J. C. HIPPOLITE CROSSE, on the 7th of Aug- 

 ust, removes one more prominent French conchologist from the 

 ranks. For many years editor of the Journal de Conchy liologie, 

 Crosse had become known to malacologists the world over as one of 

 most able and industrious workers on mollusca ; and by many con- 

 chologists to whom he was personally known and esteemed, his loss 

 will be felt with deep regret. A biographical notice will follow 

 later. 



VALLONIA ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE. In THE NAUTILUS for 

 September, in a note on " Shells of Redding, Shasta Co., Califor- 

 nia," Vallonia pulchella Mull., is quoted as " not before reported 

 from California." In my collection I have this species from Oak- 

 land, Cal., collected by Mr. Fred L. Button of that city, and in Dr. 

 J. G. Cooper's Catalogue of West North American Shells, he quotes 

 this species as " circumboreal " and found as far south as " Mono 

 County, California." In " Subalpine Mollusca of the Sierra Ne- 

 vada," by W. J- Raymond, he reports finding V. pulchella var. 



